Uruguay is a “stable and legally safe” country that constitutes a gateway to Mercosur for Chinese investments, an official who was part of this month’s Uruguayan government mission to the Asian country said on Tuesday.

Antonio Carambula, executive director of the institute of investment and exports Uruguay XXI, told Radio Uruguay that his country “is an open door” for China to the region.

“We have a law to promote the investment that creates favorable conditions, so that the sector, Chinese private enterprises or, possibly, the state can invest. And that issue has been raised, it is on the table,” he said.

Carambula stressed that, through Uruguay, the Asian country can access the Mercosur, since the agreements reached during the official Uruguayan mission to China and the possible signing of Free Trade Agreement in 2018 may result in increased investment of Chinese capital in the country and other South American nations.

Eighty-five percent of Uruguay’s exports to China are meat, soy and cellulose products, according to Carambula.

“What we are doing while improving the access to our markets is to defend the work of the Uruguayans,” he said.